3. Give information about the defendant

You must get the name of the person or business you're suing exactly right. If you win, you can only collect money from the defendant whose name is on the court forms. If you enter the wrong name, you will not be able to collect your money. And, you might lose your right to sue the person or business you wanted to sue.

Check defendant business information

If you're suing a business, you should check the business name and address. A business might use a name on its store signs or website that is not its legal name. This is called a “style name”.

If the business is a provincial business, you can do a ServiceOntario business name search. If the business is registered with the federal government, you can do a federal corporation search.

When you search for the business name, you may get a corporate number or “numbered company”. For example, 12345678910 Ontario Inc. Enter this number as the Name of company or organization on the form and also include its style name. On the form, it should be described as, “12345678910 Ontario Inc., operating as ABC Travel”.

If you can't find the legal name of the business, ask ServiceOntario for help by calling 416-314-8880 or toll free 1-800-361-3223. You have to pay a fee for this service.

Enter defendant information

Enter the full name, street address, postal code, and phone number of the person or business you're suing. If the person goes by several names, you should include “also known as”. An example might be Jon Doe, also known as Jonathan Doe.

If the defendant is the employee or owner of a business, include both the person and the business as defendants. You may be able to get the court to make an order against both.

For example, if you bought something from a business named Radiant Radiators that is owned by Joe Bossman, you could list both Radiant Radiators and Joe Bossman as defendants.

To add more than one defendant, click Add another defendant at the bottom of the form.